The Second Opportunity

As I listened to Yu Se-rim’s tender tone and saw his eyes fixed on my hand—which had been torn open without me even realizing it—I felt my heart thumping wildly.

I thought he was indifferent, but was that not the case? Moreover, he took hold of my injured hand and even pulled a precious, rare potion from his robe to apply it himself.

“A po-potion is too much for this level of injury…!”

“It’s alright. I apply this to Ping all the time, so…”

[Ping!]

“…Ping?”

“Yes.”

As he spoke, Yu Se-rim lightly tapped a small bird that looked like a ball of fluff hopping across his hand. The bird called ‘Ping’ didn’t have clearly visible eyes or a beak, but whenever Yu Se-rim called, it would quiver and diligently flutter around him.

No matter how I looked at it, it didn’t look like a normal bird. Is it a monster? Watching the scene, I felt a strange tickle in my chest.

It feels like he’s missing a screw…

This was a world where life and death were separated by a hair’s breadth. A world teeming with monsters, where everyone, regardless of rank, stayed sharp just to survive. Yet here was a man keeping a monster as a pet.

There was a sense of leisure that only the strong could afford, or perhaps something more than that, emanating from Yu Se-rim. At least, that’s what I thought back then.

Was I enchanted by that easygoing grace? Before I could even stop my mouth from moving, I bowed my head deeply and shouted.

“Yu Se-rim nim! Please accept me as a party member!”

Because of the sudden movement, the pendant I always wore around my neck clattered against my chin. However, I didn’t dare straighten my back. I could see Yu Se-rim’s elegant, well-manicured hand rhythmically tapping his knee as he sat with his legs crossed.

He’s considering it…

A small spark of hope flared within me, but…

“What is your rank, Han Sol-ssi?”

“…I am C-Rank.”

“I’m sorry. Our party only accepts A-Rank and above.”

Yu Se-rim rejected me simply, as if stating a plain fact. Though it wasn’t the first or second time I’d been turned down, that brief rejection felt so agonizing in that moment that…

Grab!

“Please, I beg of you. I have to find my brother. I’ll do anything you tell me to…”

I grabbed Yu Se-rim’s hand tightly.

He seemed quite startled by my touch, his eyes widening as he looked up at me. Yu Se-rim studied my face—my eyes already rimmed with red—and handed me a handkerchief from his pocket. I took it with trembling hands. He watched me as I stood there, unable to even bring the cloth to my face, and let out a small sigh.

It was then that I noticed the surrounding area had gone silent. Not just the survivors, but his party members as well were glaring at me fiercely. In particular, the woman from earlier stood with her arms crossed, her brow furrowed with all her might.

I know I’m being reckless. But…

If he was someone with enough luxury to raise a pet bird with expensive potions, maybe… just maybe he would take me in too.

I was willing to do anything to find even a single clue about my brother Seong-hun. Clinging to the handkerchief, I trembled while trying to rationalize my shameless thoughts.

Then, Yu Se-rim’s gaze lingered on the pendant hanging from my neck.

“Whose necklace is that?”

“…Ah. It’s my brother’s memento.”

“…”

At my words, Yu Se-rim began tapping his knee again as if deep in thought.

“Se-rim nim. We should discuss party members with the rest of us as well…”

In the meantime, the woman who had shouldered me earlier rushed over as if to stop him, but Yu Se-rim raised his head and looked at me again.

“I suppose I owe Seong-hun-ssi a debt as well.”

“…!”

“Very well. Welcome to the party, Han Sol-ssi.”

As he spoke, Yu Se-rim glanced at my pendant once more before looking into my eyes with a refreshing smile.

In that moment, to the point where I momentarily forgot my brother…

I fell in love like a fool.

“Gah, ack, cough…!”

Just as my consciousness was fading away with my final memories of Yu Se-rim, I suddenly found myself rolling on the ground. I had definitely been underwater just moments ago.

I vomited out water repeatedly, gasping for the scarce oxygen.

“Cough, wheeze…! Wha-what! What is this!?”

It happened before the vivid sensation of death and resentment could even fade, so my whole body shook and I couldn’t think straight. Then, I suddenly realized I was clutching something rattling in my hand.

It was my brother’s pendant.

[Only one chance remains, so be prudent…]

“…What is this?”

My eyes widened of their own accord because such text had never been there before.

But soon, the letters vanished as if they had never been engraved. Furthermore, while it had been entirely silver before, half of it had now turned pitch black.

At the time, I didn’t know what it meant. But one thing was certain: what I had experienced was neither a dream nor a delusion. Looking down at my shivering body, I first checked where I was.

“Crazy… this is my room?”

It was the room I used to stay in, exactly one year before I joined Yu Se-rim’s party. However, the strange thing was…

“…Why am I here?”

I was clearly dying after being abandoned by Yu Se-rim… so how was it possible to suddenly be in the house I used to live in a year ago?

“…”

Moreover, I had sold this house for a pittance to someone else as soon as I joined Yu Se-rim’s party. Seeing the room exactly as it was, filled with my old junk from a year ago, was beyond strange.

“A-choo!”

Realizing I’d catch a cold if I stayed like this, I hesitantly began changing out of my clothes, which were soaked through to my underwear.

But the clothes I took off were, absurdly enough, the party uniform Yu Se-rim had given me.

“f*ck…”

Naturally, the sight made me feel disgusted, and I threw them off instantly. Not satisfied with that, I kicked the wet clothes away and wiped my body down thoroughly with a towel. Then, I found an old hoodie I used to wear in the closet and pulled it on.

I laid my shivering body down on the bed. Not to sleep, of course—my instincts were screaming at me to figure out what was happening.

…Teleportation? Did this pendant have a function like that?

I thought it was just an ordinary pendant, but wondering if the memento my brother left behind was actually an ‘Artifact,’ I examined it closely.

But between the strange text that appeared and vanished, and the fact that I had returned to this specific house, it felt like something far removed from mere teleportation.

Rather…

“Ugh…”

In that moment, my head felt like it was splitting, preventing further thought, when my eyes suddenly caught the calendar on the wall.

“…Wait. Why is the calendar…”

Why was it last year’s calendar?

Had the man who bought my house for cheap just left it neglected like this when I left the village with Yu Se-rim? But for that to be the case, the house was in too pristine a condition. It looked as if I had just been using it yesterday.

I had no connection to the man who bought this house. He might have left my things alone, but could he really have kept them as clean as if they were being used every day?

“It’s weird…”

There were countless doubts and not a single solution. It was then.

Bang, bang, bang!

“Han Sol! It’s a Wyvern! A-a Wyvern appeared in the village!”

As if possessed, I opened the door at the sound of that familiar voice. Standing outside the house was the C-Rank swordsman, Kim Ji-woo, looking at me with an urgent expression. Exactly as he had looked one year ago.

“…Kim Ji-woo?”

“There’s no time to stand around dazed! The Wyverns are attacking!”

As he spoke, Kim Ji-woo frantically grabbed my hand.

But watching him gave me goosebumps. Because Kim Ji-woo had lost his life during the Wyvern invasion a year ago. How could he be…?

Kim Ji-woo, perhaps misinterpreting the reason I was frozen, let out a deep sigh and pulled my hand. Then, he flinched and spoke again.

“By the way, why is your hand so col—”

“What’s the date today?”

“What?”

“I asked what the date is!”

I cut Kim Ji-woo off and shouted. He stood there with a blank face before stammering at me.

“It’s July 7th…”

“What? Are you serious?”

“Y-yeah…”

“You’re saying it’s July 7th, 20XX?”

“Yeah. But why are you asking that?”

Just in case, I had asked for the date from a year ago, and to my bewilderment, Kim Ji-woo nodded.

Only then did I realize what the words on the pendant—[Only one chance remains, so be prudent…]—actually meant.

“Crazy…”

Through this pendant, I had returned to the past.

Precisely one year back, just a few hours before meeting Yu Se-rim.

“View my info.”

Hiding inside a building with a roof, I first called up my current status window.

[Player: Han Sol] Level: 70 Class: Debuffer Rank: C Skills: — Heavy Steps (Power 30/30) — Darkened Eyes (Power 30/30) — Shrouded Hide (Power 30/30)

“This is…”

The situation itself was absurd enough, but even my level and skill proficiencies remained exactly as they were before the regression.